Bracelet



March 29, 1927.- 1`.622,769

E. A. COQMBS BRACELET l Filed May v, 1924 INVENTOR d@ @ms @all l/1m. @glam-nds Patented Mar. 29, 1927 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.EDWARD A. COOMBS, OF PLAINVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T WHI'IFINGI CHAIN COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F MASSACHUSETTS.

BRACELET.

Application filed May 7, 1924. Serial No. 711,579.

This invention relates to bracelets, and more particularly to bracelets of the type commonly used in connection with wrist watches. Such a bracelet usually consists of a strap or band to encircle the wrist,

which is secured to the watch by being led through loops attached to the watch case, and a clasp so arranged as to permit the girth of the band to be enlarged whenever the bracelet is to be slipped over the hand. For this latter purpose the band is provided with overlapping portions, the length of which may be adjusted so as to vary the size of the bracelet, and when the clasp is unfastened, the excess length provided by these overlapping portions is drawn through one of the watch loops so that the girth of the bracelet is increased to that extent. The band is usually made of a piece of fabric tape or ribbon and the clasp is formed of two members attached to the band, and which have interengaging portions. The position of the clasp members on the band determines to what extent the portions of the latter will overlap, and consequently the position of the clasp members must be adjusted according to the size of the wrist of the wearer. is usually attached to the end of the band and the other is so formed that the tape may be threaded through it so that the position of the second member may be varied as desired. Owing to the fact that the latter member must necessarily be movable along the tape and is held in position only by friction, it frequently happens that this clasp member will slide along the tape, especially after the latter has become worn. This causes the strap to be loosened and requires that an adjustment be made. Furthermore, it is ditiicult to adjust the position of the clasp member so as to give the bracelet the desired size without being either too tight or too loose. The bracelet might be made to tit the wrist snugly by making the tape of elastic material, but the life of such material is quite short, and its use is undesirable for that reason.

The object of the present invention is to provide a bracelet of attractive design which affords numerous advantages over bracelets as heretofore constructed, by reason of its including a member which permits a slight expansion of the band so that when the One of the clasp members movable clasp member has been properly adjusted, the bracelet when closed will encircle the wrist snugly at all times, but will yield whenever the movements of the wristiinay so require. This bracelet consists of the usual band, the two clasp members, and a take-up member provided with spring-held parts, which is inserted so as to form a part of the bandfwith portions of the band secured to these parts. The latter may be moved relatively to one another so as to increase the girth of the band slightly, and when the force tending to produce this result is removed the spring-held parts are. restored to their normal positions, thus re storing the bracelet to its original sizes. The take-up member is so constructed that all its operative parts are concealed and its exposed portions'ha-ve an attractive appearance and may be decorated in any suitable manner, as, for instance, by engraving a monogram upon them.

In the accompanying drawings there is illustrated that embodiment of the invention which is now preferred, and in these drawlugs,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of such a vbracelet attached to the watch,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal `cross-sectional view of the take-up member on the line 24-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view of the take-up member in longitudinal cross-section, taken in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the band,

Figs. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional views through the take-up member on the lines 4-4 and 5-5- respectively, of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a plate formin part of the take-up member, and

Fig is a view in perspective of a pair of plungers which are used in the take-up member. l

Referring now {to these drawings, the bracelet is shown in use attached to a watch in Fig. 1. This bracelet consists of a strap or band 1 secured to the watch 2 by means of loops 3 formed integrally with the case of the watch. One end of the band 4 is sewed to a clasp member 5, whiley another portion of the band is led through a cooperating clasp member 6, having a stud which may be frictionally engaged in an aperture in the member 5. The band, as illust-rated at 7, is led through spaced slots in the meinber G so that the latter may be moved along` the band to any desired position `of adjl'istment. Ordinarily one end of the band. as at 8, is secured to one yof the loops Sl. This band passes through the clasp member G, the end is led through the second watch loop. and then on the end of this band is mounted the second clasp membe 5. lVith this arran gement the band has an overlapping portion so that when the clasp n'ien'ibers are separated the excess length provided by the overlapi'iing portion may be drawn through the loop 3, thus increasing` the girth of the band sufficiently to permit it to be slipped, over the hand. For the purpose of illustrating the construction clearly, the band shown in Fig.v 1 is of considerably greater girth in proportion to the size of the other parts than is ordinarily the case. lVith this type of bracelet it will be seen that the clasp member G must be moved along the band so that when the clasp is fastened together the band will lit the wrist tightly. t is some-y what difficult to make this adjustment so that the watch may be worn with comfort and.I furthermore, the movements of the wrist of the wearer frequently increase the girth of the band so that thebracelet exerts an uncomfortable pressure. This may result in causing the clasp member 6 tobe slipped along the band, thus destroying the adjustment and making the bracelet too loose under normal circumstances.

ln order to overcome this `condition, and .to provide the bracelet with a, certain degree of elasticity, such as might ordinarily be` secured by making .use of an elastic fabric, which, however, as has previously been explained, is altogether undesirable, I insert a take-up member 9 in the band, preferably 9 between the clasp member 6 and the loop o;

to which the end 8 of the band is attached. The band is cut between the clasp member and the end 8, and the ends so provided are secured to spring-held parts of thetake-up,

member. These parts are concealedv when the take-up member is in use, and the latter simply has the appearance of aV plate which may be decorated by a suitable monogram. This take-up member iS preferably formed on a slight curve so asto fit the contour of the wrist.

The take-up member 9 comprisesa plate 10 having upstanding lateral flanges, 11, and disposed between these flanges. is an open.- sided casing 12, placed with its open side against the inner face of the plate 10. The plate thus forms a side Wall for the casing and extends beyond the ends thereof. The ends 13 of the casing are bent at right angles to its main wall 14 and these ends have flanges 15 which bear against the face of the plate 10. The flanges 11 of the plate are out so as to provide tongues 16 which are turned inwardly to overlie the flanges 15 and thus hold the casinganchored yin position againstthe plate.

rlhe ends of the easing are 'torn'ied with pairs of slots 17, vshown in Fig. 5, the slots in one end being placed comparatively olor-:e together near the middle of the end, while the slots in the other end are placed near the outer edges as shown in Fig. 3. lllounted in the, ends of the casing are plungers 18, shown in Fig. 7. Each plunger has ,a pair of le 1 19` which lie side by side, these legs pai-:sing rthrough ythe .slotsl and extending to a considerable distance .within the casing. The ends of the legshaveheads 2O whichprevent the removal of theplungers from the` casing, and at their outer ends thelegs are connected by a loopQl, tlfirougli which the end of theband 8 is led and held in position by sewing. ldfithin the. casing eachleg` is encircled by a spring :22 which bears at oneend against the inner end wall of the casing, and atthe.otheragainst the head These .springsare arranged so :is to cause the plungers toA bev normallyretracted into the casing. It will bey seen that the plungers are alike in construction, save as to the positionef the legs, which are placed so that the plungers may move freely relative to each other without interference.. rllhe` loops Q1 which lie beyond `the ends of the casing arezguided intheir mOi/ement lby, the inner wall of the flanges 11,` and Lthe plungers may be. moved apart. against-the force of Ythe springs Q2. The spi'ingsareof light` wire so that they offer. but little resistance to the outward movement offthe plungers, thus permitting theband to yield whenever the movements of the wrist so rcquire. The plate 10 is sufliciently long so that the plnngersat their extreme movement dofnot pass beyond the ends of theplate and the operative parts `of the take-up member arey concealed from viewby Vmeans ofl a flanged plate,23,the franges of which fit over the fianges 11 on the plate 10. Thiscover plate has a curvature similar to that of the platel 10,- and near the ends of=tlie..f1anges formed on it are small projectionswhich may engage in suitable` rccessesQ formed in the flanges 11. The engagement-of thev studs with the recessesserves to ,lock the cover plate in position. The cover,platefis about the same. length as the plate 10 and, with this plate `Serves toA provide a guideway for the plunger. movementsfas welll as concealing those portions of, the plungers which lie outside of the casing 12. Y

Whenever a` newband-is to be made use of in the bracelet a length of this band is secured to one of the. loops `of the watch by sewingand is ythen sewed tothe loop of one of the plungers, the cover plate of the take-up member being,` removed forthe'pur.- pose. The end of anotheiupiece of band is lun lll)

sewed to the loop of the other plunger, is then led through the clasp member 6, through the other watch loop, and then the end of this portion of the band is secured to the second clasp member. The length of the different parts of the band may be readily determined by placing the bracelet on the hand and putting the parts in their proper adjusted position before the clasp member 5 is iinally sewed to the end of the band. The cover plate of the take-up member is then restored and the braceletis ready for use. It is slipped over the hand in the usual way, the clasp members fastened, and thereafter the band grips the wrist with a yielding pressure so that the bracelet may be worn with great comfort. Owing to this slight elasticity provided by the take-up member, the slide clasp mem ber 6 need not be adjusted with great accurac i.

bilince. all the Woking parts of the take-up member are concealed from view it may be given an attractive appearance and may be made of any desired metal, as, for instance, the same metal as the watch. Also, since it is not necessary to make the band of elastic material, fabrics which have a much longer life than elastic fabric may be employed, while the bracelet has all the desirable qualities of an elastic band. The take-up member' contains no parts which become worn when in use, and may be used for an indefinite period. In a bracelet which includes this take-up member the band encircles the Wristsnugly but without uncomfortable pressure, and this regardless of the movements of the wrist of the wearer. Since the bracelet yields slightly whenever required, by reason of the presence of the take-up member, no excessive strain is placed on the fabric when the bracelet is in use, and thus the fabric has an increased life and. need not be replaced so frequently.

I claim:

l. For use in combination with an ornamental article of the encircling type, a takeup device comprising a casing, plunger members having portions thereof slidable into said casing and having ends adapted for attachment to the ends of the encircling article, springs within the casing for nor,- mally holding the plunger members in retracted position, and a cover member overlying the casing and plunger members adapted to conceal the same even though the plunger members be in their extended position.

2. A take-up device for an encircling member comprising a base plate having opposite sides thereof extending upwardly, another plate itting within said base plate to form a casing, spring-pressed plunger members each comprising a portion adapted for attachment to the ends of the encircling member, and a portion adapted to extend within said casing, said last-mentioned portion being normally held in retracted position within the casing, a cover piece overlying the whole, sufficient in length to conceal all the parts even though the plunger members be in their extended position.

3. A take-up device for an encircling member comprising a base plate having opposite sides thereof extending upwardly, a second plate fitting within said base plate to form a casing, portions of the upwardly extending sides of the base plate being cut so as to form tongues adapted to hold the second plate in fixed position, plunger members each comprising a portion adapted for attachment to the ends of the encircling member and a portion adapted to extend within said casing, springs associated with said last-mentioned portion for normally maintaining tlie last-mentioned portion of the plunger members in retracted position within the casing, a cover member overlying the base plate and attachable thereto, said cover plate being of suiicient length to completely conceal both the base plate and the plunger members even though the plunger members be in their extended position.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

EDWARD A. COOMBS. 

